DMC Hosts Statewide Community Forums on SUD

Since December 2020, the David Mathews Center (DMC) has visited 20 counties all over Alabama as part of the Alabama Provider Capacity Project (APCP). This is a joint project between the Alabama Medicaid Agency, the Alabama Department of Mental Health, and the VitAL Initiative at The University of Alabama School of Social Work.  APCP proposes to increase Alabama’s capacity to provide substance use treatment and expand provider participation options.

The DMC, as part of a team led by The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development, met with invited community members in all of Alabama’s 67 counties in virtual or socially-distanced focus groups. These community members shared their unique perspectives, professional resources, and personal stories to help assess the unique needs of their communities and counties regarding substance use disorder. Over 500 community members across various municipalities and organizations donated their time and valuable insights to this project over the past six weeks.

The DMC would like to personally thank our conveners and hosts who assisted our work in their counties. Through this project, we had the pleasure of reuniting with community partners and making new connections across the state. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring people together and tackle this daunting challenge of substance use disorder and how to proceed with the best ideas and solutions for each individual community and the entire state of Alabama.

The APCP is collecting individual perspectives of substance use disorder in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. If you would like to participate in this conversation, we invite you to complete the survey here. For more information on the Alabama Provider Capacity Project, visit the website https://vitalalabama.com/apcp/.